Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's 'tell-all' interview with Oprah Winfrey on Sunday night is one of the most anticipated TV events in years.
The Duchess says she feels liberated by speaking for herself. Buckingham Palace will be fearful of what she has to say.
Amid the accusations of bullying laid against the former actress and her anticipated revelations to the US queen of television, The National asked former members of the royal household what went wrong.
Bright start to life as a duchess
The life of a British royal comes with privileges few will ever experience. Public affection bordering on adoration, luxury, money and high esteem for arguably the most publicised family in the world.
It is close to being a celebrity but not quite. There are codes to be followed, clearly defined boundaries and a willingness to accept that your life is not entirely yours.
Meghan Markle was an actress who had experienced fame and recognition from the success of US TV series Suits. She was also a liberal from California entering a revered, centuries-old institution with a strict hierarchy.
Perhaps what happened next was predictable, but not many foresaw how quickly things would unravel after she married Harry in May 2018.
In the end, it seems, Meghan never fully understood or accepted life as a royal. As yet it is unclear when, but something happened in her short time as a royal that led her from marrying into the realm to fleeing British shores.
At first it appeared to Buckingham Palace that Meghan was an asset, someone different who could add a new perspective to the family. “She did some fantastic stuff like the Grenfell Tower cookbook,” said a former employee. “The patronages she took on were pretty chunky things, like the National Theatre, and they must have been both rewarding and interesting.”
Putting her weight behind the Grenfell Tower recipe book seemed to hit all the right notes, selling more than 130,000 copies, raising thousands for charity and helping a good cause. It also appeared to Meghan that she could turn private events into good publicity, perhaps acting on the suggestion of her American media advisers, who, it became apparent, were not entirely comprehending of the inner workings of British royalty.
But the new Duchess of Sussex was a big hit with the public. Her words, photographs and visits widely followed.
The first cracks appear
"It's not about you, it's about what you're doing for other people. It's not about self-promotion. Royalty isn't celebrity, they're two very different things."
She continued with a successful tour of the Pacific in late 2018, starting on a high note with the announcement of her pregnancy shortly after arriving in Australia. Then a personal assistant left within six months of the wedding after an alleged falling out. Reports emerged of a less-than-warm relationship with Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge while sharing an office and premises at Kensington Palace.
Senior staff in Buckingham Palace became aware that there was “concern about the way people were being spoken to”.
Something was not working and Queen Elizabeth II agreed to the couple's request to form a new office at Buckingham Palace with their own staff. However, another request for an office independent of the palace was denied. The Queen had spent her life in public service and expected the same unwavering adherence to duty.
“Duty means being in the service of others,” the former palace employee said. “It's not about you, it's about what you're doing for other people. It's not about self-promotion. Royalty isn't celebrity, they're two very different things.”
There was a growing worry that those advising the couple didn’t grasp how the monarchy worked. “They have no real understanding of how things land with the public here,” the source said. “It might be very different in the United States.”
However, the Sussexes broke an Instagram record, reaching one million followers faster than any other account. There was a blip when environmental campaigners criticised their use of private jets for personal trips abroad, but it did not overshadow celebrations of the birth of son Archie in May 2019.
End of the Fab Four
The rumblings over the Sussexes seemed to contrast with the enduring popularity of the Cambridges, whose royal outings were conducted with humour and good grace. “Being a royal means that you can't have an off-day because people's expectations when you turn up is that you are going to be gracious and interested in them,” the source said. “For some people, it's the best day of their lives. Members of the royal family really understand that and that it’s not about them.”
Meticulous planning went into the couple’s next major foreign tour of Southern Africa, which was organised in great detail by one of those understood to be the subject of the bullying allegations that emerged recently.
The tour went extremely well with large crowds of well-wishers turning out. But then Meghan did an interview with the respected ITN newsreader Tom Bradby, who has been a friend and adviser to Harry and William for some time. When he questioned Meghan about the impact of royal life on her physical and mental health, she replied: “Thank you for asking, because not many people have asked if I’m OK.” Her discomfort was plain to all and came as a shock to Buckingham Palace.
“That tour was putting them back on a really fantastic path,” the source said. “Archie was very good-humoured. They were meeting interesting people, doing good things and then it was all blown apart when they did that interview.”
Other side of the Atlantic
Not long afterwards, the Sussexes departed for an extended stay in Canada and it was on their return in early 2020 that they made the shock announcement, via Instagram, that they were “stepping back” from duty as senior royals. The Queen hadn't been informed beforehand and she was upset. “A lot of people in the royal household were just very surprised that they didn't give it a bit longer,” the insider said.
After a major falling out with the British press and court cases against Fleet Street newspapers the Sussexes time left in England was running out and by June last year they were in California.
Media focus really turned on Meghan and Harry this week when, in the lead up to the Oprah interview, the allegations of bullying emerged with a report in The Times newspaper, and a Palace investigation is under way. Such complaints were not looked into at the time, however.
The National was told by another source that the royal household's human resources department was as professionally run as those of major corporations, although it was admitted that with two households – Buckingham Palace and Clarence House – this made things more complicated.
“It is a very professional operation,” a former Clarence House employee said. “The complaint wasn't picked up and it may simply have been a fact of people leaving and moving on. But you have to remember that when Meghan and Harry decided they were off, that became the priority to sort out over almost everything else.”
Royal staff get their defence in first
The suggestion is that someone in Buckingham Palace thought it would be a good idea to offer a counterpoint to the likely criticism that will come from Meghan on Sunday. Sadly, it appears to have hurt both sides' reputations, but the former palace employee said the British monarchy would remain largely unruffled.
“The great thing about monarchy is that it's bigger than any particular generation,” the source said. “It reinvents itself and takes on different relevance for different generations and Meghan and Harry have decided they don't want to be part of that. But the royal family will just keep on doing their duty because they understand that's what they’re supposed to do.”
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 435hp at 5,900rpm
Torque: 520Nm at 1,800-5,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Price: from Dh498,542
On sale: now
Yuki Means Happiness
Alison Jean Lester
John Murray
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THE LOWDOWN
Romeo Akbar Walter
Rating: 2/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Robby Grewal
Cast: John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Jackie Shroff and Sikandar Kher
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
ZAYED SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE
The bio:
Favourite holiday destination: I really enjoyed Sri Lanka and Vietnam but my dream destination is the Maldives.
Favourite food: My mum’s Chinese cooking.
Favourite film: Robocop, followed by The Terminator.
Hobbies: Off-roading, scuba diving, playing squash and going to the gym.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
The specs: Rolls-Royce Cullinan
Price, base: Dh1 million (estimate)
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 563hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 850Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 15L / 100km
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
More from Janine di Giovanni
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
Dubai World Cup prize money
Group 1 (Purebred Arabian) 2000m Dubai Kahayla Classic - $750,000
Group 2 1,600m(Dirt) Godolphin Mile - $750,000
Group 2 3,200m (Turf) Dubai Gold Cup – $750,000
Group 1 1,200m (Turf) Al Quoz Sprint – $1,000,000
Group 2 1,900m(Dirt) UAE Derby – $750,000
Group 1 1,200m (Dirt) Dubai Golden Shaheen – $1,500,000
Group 1 1,800m (Turf) Dubai Turf – $4,000,000
Group 1 2,410m (Turf) Dubai Sheema Classic – $5,000,000
Group 1 2,000m (Dirt) Dubai World Cup– $12,000,000
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
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A German university was a good fit for the family budget
Annual fees for the Technical University of Munich - £600
Shared rental accommodation per month depending on the location ranges between £200-600
The family had budgeted for food, books, travel, living expenses - £20,000 annually
Overall costs in Germany are lower than the family estimated
As proof that the student has the ability to take care of expenses, international students must open a blocked account with about £8,640
Students are permitted to withdraw £720 per month
STAY%2C%20DAUGHTER
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